Scripture Daily

Context No. 3089 of 4322 · Genesis

Context · Reflection

Genesis 26:11-16: in context

11Abimelech commanded all the people, saying, “He who touches this man or his wife will surely be put to death.” 12Isaac sowed in that land, and reaped in the same year one hundred times what he planted. The LORD blessed him. 13The man grew great, and grew more and more until he became very great. 14He had possessions of flocks, possessions of herds, and a great household. The Philistines envied him. 15Now all the wells which his father’s servants had dug in the days of Abraham his father, the Philistines had stopped, and filled with earth. 16Abimelech said to Isaac, “Go away from us, for you are much mightier than we.”

Under Abimelech's protection, Isaac settles and farms, and God blesses him: he sows in that land and reaps a hundredfold in a single year, growing greater and greater until he is very great, with flocks and herds and a large household. And the Philistines envy him, stopping up the wells his father Abraham had dug, filling them with dirt.

Isaac's God-given prosperity provokes envy. He does nothing wrong; he is simply blessed, sows and reaps a hundredfold, grows great, and the Philistines respond with envy and sabotage, choking his wells with earth. Blessing does not always win us friends; sometimes it draws resentment from those who compare and covet. And Abimelech finally asks him to leave, not for any wrong Isaac has done, but simply because he has grown too great and prosperous to have comfortably nearby. God's blessing on a life can itself become a source of others' hostility. Isaac's answer, as we have seen, was not to fight but to move on and keep digging, trusting God to make room.

When God's blessing on me stirs up others' envy, do I respond with grace and trust like Isaac, rather than resentment or retaliation?

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